Taming The Narcissist
by DarkElements10
Summary: He's the narcissist, the one that knows that he's good looking. But he used it as a cover, and he only knew that when she pointed it out. Jiley JamesxRiley for Ninjabrownie.


**Taming The Narcissist**

**Summary**** – He's the narcissist, the one that knows that he's good looking. But he used it as a cover, and he only knew that when she pointed it out. Jiley (JamesxRiley) for Ninjabrownie**

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><p>"So, you're saying that you're not a jealous person?" James Diamond asked, looking skeptical as he turned around and leaned his back against the railing of the boardwalk, crossing his arms over his chest. "Like, at all?"<p>

"Yep." His companion, Riley Jackson-McGuire replied simply as she turned her head and looked at him seriously. Unlike James, she was leaning forward with her arms resting on top of the wooden railing. "Actually, I guess 'nope' would be the operative word there."

James shook his head, his hazel eyes showing the disbelief that was coursing through his veins. "I don't believe you."

"That's obvious." Riley remarked.

"_Everyone_ gets jealous about something!" James continued his eyes watching as people moved back and forth across the boardwalk, talking and laughing loudly. "Hell, even I get jealous of Kendall, Logan, and Carlos at times." He half-turned towards her and held up a finger. "Don't tell them I said that." He warned.

Riley made the zipping motion across her lips.

"Of course, they're more jealous of me." James continued, his grin reappearing as he turned to her fully, grasping the bottom of his shirt. "Because of my-"he lifted his shirt and slapped his flat stomach. "Washboard abs!"

Riley laughed a little bit. "You can't stand to not have to flash your," she tilted her head to the side, her eyes darting to his stomach and then back up to his face. "6 pack abs all the time, can you?"

"It's an 8 pack, thank you very much!" James shot back easily, as he lowered the bottom of his shirt. "And if these guns," he flexed his arm muscles. "Can be shown every day, why not my abs?"

"Yeah," Riley rolled her eyes and pushed away from the railing of the boardwalk. "Something tells me the guys aren't jealous of your muscles." She then peered at his face and stood up on her tip-toes, reaching her hands up and furiously rubbed them through his hair. "Or your hair." She added.

"No!" James let out a mini-scream and pushed her hands away before quickly fixing his hair. If there was one thing that you could say that James was, it was that he was a narcissist; he cared _way_ too much about his hair and his looks. More so than any other guy that he or Riley knew, but it's what made James, James, and it was actually a blessing in disguise because he would have all the hair care products that you could ever need. It didn't hurt that his mother, Brooke Diamond, was the make-up mogul of the Midwest.

"Stop being such a girl, JD." Riley rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, a hint of a smile on her lips.

"I am _not _a girl." James' arms dropped to his side and he stood up straighter, looking Riley in the eye, his own narrowed.

"You sound like one. 'I am _not_ a girl'" Riley mimicked him, putting her hands on her hips and fluttering her eyes, sticking out her lips into pout.

"I _so _do not!" He replied, his eyes narrowing even further, although they twinkled with amusement.

"Do too!"

"Do not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

Riley then burst out laughing. "Okay, you gotta stop, now." She stated, holding her hands up defensively. "Fine, you're not a girl." She then smirked. "But before you cut your hair…" she shrugged. "Just saying."

"Anyway, back to our first conversation," James rubbed his hands together and licked his lips as he looked right into Riley's dark blue eyes. "You're not a jealous person. So say we're dating-"

"We're not." Riley interrupted.

"But say we are," James continued. "You come to the PalmWoods and see me hanging out with…Peggy," he said, speaking of the first person he thought of. "She's cute, she's pretty, and we're talking and laughing and standing really close." He paused. "Would you be jealous?"

"No," Riley replied truthfully, shaking her head. "If we were dating and if you liked her and she liked you, and you want to see what could happen I'd say go ahead." She crossed her arms over her chest. "If you both are happy, then I'll be happy."

James stared at her for a moment, not sure what to say. It wasn't surprising really; ever since he met her he knew that she was a selfless person. She went through years of torture and abuse by the hands of her father (her first adoptive father) and didn't tell anyone, to make sure that her brothers and twin sister weren't split apart. She's even given up a lot of her time to help him and his friends with their band, even skipping photo shoots and press junkets to do so. She never told anyone that, and James had only found out by overhearing a conversation between her and her music producer, Ronan. It was still surprising to him.

"It's not that odd," Riley said, always seemingly able to read his mind. "I'm just used to doing things for other people." She then gave a wry smile when James looked annoyed at her having been able to read his mind. "It's not my fault you're so easy to read."

"I'm easy to read, huh?" James looked interested. "Ok, so, what was your thought when I first asked you out and you said 'no' and I asked again later."

"In my defense, I never flat out said 'no'," Riley moved her hands to her jeans pockets. "I changed the subject so you never noticed that I never gave you an answer." She twisted her mouth to the side. "I'll give it to you straight, Handsome; you're very good looking and I know you know that." James smiled and waited. "But when you first asked me out, I wondered if you were really interested of if you were just groomed to be that way. I'd done my research on all you guys and had heard about your parents' divorce and often wondered if your constant going out with girls was because of the way that you dad groomed you, to make you be 'the stud'." She used air quotes around the words. "And if you were doing it to hide the hurt from their divorce. The fact that you can never say 'no' to your mom I also thought merged with the fact that whenever a girl asked you out, you always said yes."

James' eyes widened slightly and Riley continued, looking right into his eyes.

"After a while, I realized, not just me, my brothers and sister too, realized that you being so narcissistic was a cover. You're actually afraid of finding that one person that you want to marry because you don't want to end up like your parents, too angry to talk to each other. So you just continue to date to have fun, not that there's anything wrong with that. And your dad is the one that was saying and ultimately showed you that you're supposed to be the big man on campus, but you don't want that, you want to show guys that looks don't matter. So you go out with even the less than pretty girls, to prove to them that not all guys are the same and that they can and will like the girl with a light scar on her cheek." She lightly touched her face as she did so, her eyes moving from James' as she touched her own scar.

"Your narcissism is a cover because, like everyone else," she finally moved her eyes back to James and spoke in a whisper. "You're afraid to show the kind of person you really are, in fear of rejection."

"And you never agreed to go out with me because…" James finally found his voice. He had so many things he wanted to ask, but that was the first one that he could think of.

"Because," Riley looked thoughtful for a moment. "I wanted you to be able to figure those things out yourself. And I know that you knew them, but you just needed to hear someone say it." She smirked again. "Plus, you know me; I'm always willing to say what other people are afraid to."

"Or in this case, too scared to realize." James agreed. "Because you were scared of rejection yourself."

Riley looked at him, her eyebrows lowering slightly.

James reached down and gently cradled her face in his head, bending her head all the way back. (He's exactly a foot taller than her.) The moment felt so right, so good… perfect. That was why, when their lips crashed together, neither protested. That was why when Riley's watch started to beep and they resurfaced for air; they both looked slightly saddened that their time was over.

"Wow," Riley blurted before her cheeks flushed red and she looked at her feet.

"I know," James grinned back, still in his stooped position. "I get that a lot."

"Shut up," Riley lifted her head again, giving a somewhat shy smile, biting her lower lip as she did so. She looked at her watch as it continued to beep. She absentmindedly slapped at it until it stopped. "So," She tucked her hair behind her ear. "I gotta go…I'll see you tomorrow." She stood on her tip-toes and kissed his cheek. "Later." She gave a short wave, turned, and walked away.

"See you later, Beautiful."

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><p><strong>AN: So I decided to write this because Ninjabrownie loves the Jiley pairing just as much as I do. I know that some people wouldn't see how it works, but here's how I see it. **

**James is a narcissist, everyone knows that. But Riley is so perceptive that she can easily see that he's using that to hide everything that he's really feeling. She knows that he would do anything for his friends, he's nice to her, is a shoulder to lean on, and is someone that will protect her without having to be asked. **

**So the way that I see that the two would get together is from Riley seeing that there is more to James than his good looks and shows him the things that he had been hiding/never realized that he had been hiding and he likes her for the fact that she is willing to deal with his narcissism that usually pushes people away, hang out with him as he does as many sports as possible, and that even though she doesn't say 'no' when he asks her out, she tries to get to know him first, instead of coldly turning him down because he usually dates the pretty girls.**

**Thing is, I don't think that James is a player, because players always go around dating only the hot girls and purposefully playing them while stringing about five others on the side. No, I see James as a guy that does what a teenager is supposed to do, enjoy dating while he tries to find the girl he's going to marry. Plus, I don't see him as only going for the pretty girls, I think that because he's so caring and kind about people that he will at first gravitate towards them, because of the fact that his dad went for someone who is 15 years younger than him and his mother does make-up. I think James is the kind of person that will go out with a girl even if she's not a visibly pretty as everyone else because he genuinely likes something about her and while Riley isn't as pretty as everyone else, he likes her confidence and selflesness.**

**Anyway, I hope you guys liked it.**

**Cheers,**

**-Riles**


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